By deciding not to run for re-election to the City Council, Smith may be breaking up a majority bloc. The quarreling over the past two years between a three-member majority and a two-member minority has made the council one of the most dysfunctional in the state.

Now voters will have to decide who to put in her place.

Members of the minority — Mayor Mike Pearson and Councilman Justin Bloyer — are running for re-election. Members of the majority, Julie Fliflet and Jill Lundgren, are not up for re-election, but Fliflet is running for mayor.

Of the three other council candidates, one is on the Pearson-Bloyer side and two say they are neutral.

Lake Elmo is the only city in the state that will have to pay a higher insurance deductible because the bickering city council faces a higher risk of lawsuits. Employees have charged council members with harassment, and a former city administrator is suing the city.

Since March 2015, the exodus of city-hall workers has resulted in high turnover. The current city administrator is the sixth in seven years.

The Pioneer Press interviewed the candidates, asking about the future of the city and which side — if either — they would support.

JULIE FLIFLET

Julie Fliflet, 47, spent eight years on the Planning Commission before being elected in 2014. She has more than 20 years’ experience in the field of fiscal management.

She said that the previous council, which included Pearson and Bloyer, approved long-range construction projects that will eventually add 2,000 housing units to the city.

The new Savona housing development project, on the northwest corner of Interstate 94 and Woodbury Drive in Lake Elmo, is pictured in October 2014. (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

Fliflet said Pearson and Bloyer voted against the ongoing building moratorium and in favor of a rapid-transit bus line through the city. That shows, she said, “there are two pro-growth members on the council.”

She blamed Pearson for the atmosphere of disrespect. “I feel the mayor chairs the meetings and sets the tone. He is not providing leadership,” said Fliflet.

She admitted that much of the conflict started when she joined the council but says that is due to the newcomers pushing back against the pro-growth members. “Before, Pearson and Bloyer got their way on every vote,” she said.

While she did not officially endorse them, Fliflet supports candidates Ben Roth and Brett Emmons. “If we don’t want to see this town become another Woodbury,” said Fliflet, “that is who we support.”

MIKE PEARSON

Mike Pearson, 51, has been a small-business owner for 26 years.

“This election is not about growth. Growth will occur however the election turns out,” he said. “This election is a referendum on the last two years of the Fliflet majority.”

Pearson and Bloyer say that the council operated smoothly until Fliflet and Lundgren joined in January 2015. Since then, turnover, harassment allegations and rudeness have spiked, Pearson said.

“If residents want to move away from absolute dysfunction,” said Pearson, “then they have to put people in place to do this.” He supports Bloyer’s re-election and candidate Christine Nelson.

“I view them as reasonable and data-driven, and they have the courage of their convictions. I want to work with people who are candid and intellectually honest.”

He said that past and present growth has been driven by mandates of the Metropolitan Council, and even the “slow-growth” council members have voted for many large projects.

JUSTIN BLOYER

Justin Bloyer, 39, a pilot for Delta Airlines, is finishing his first four-year term.

Billy Hagberg, manager of Hagberg’s Country Market in Lake Elmo, had messages on and around his store about the city council on Thursday, July 16, 2015. “I want people to stay aware of what’s going on in the city,” he said. “I don’t get to vote since I don’t live in the city, so this is my vote.” (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

When the three-member majority formed in January 2015, he said, it created a hostile work environment and a dysfunctional city council. The new majority voted to stop video-recording workshops and committee meetings, which Bloyer said gives the impression the council is trying to hide something.

He wants to revive the practice of taping meetings.

“This is the first step in restoring trust in our city, which has been destroyed over the last two years,” he said. “I want to restore transparency and integrity to the city council.”

When that happens, he said, the council will start functioning again.

Bloyer said he worked with Pearson to loosen the Met Council’s requirements for the city to grow quickly. Bloyer said the city is currently adding about 125 homes a year, a pace that he is comfortable with.

BRETT EMMONS

Brett Emmons, 52, was a council member from 2009 to 2012, when he was defeated in his re-election bid by Bloyer and Smith.

He said he would not ally himself with either side. “I am not going to get into that us-versus-them mentality,” said Emmons.

He is the chair of the city’s library board and a member of the environmental committee. Emmons is a part owner of Emmons & Olivier Resources, a consulting firm for water resource management and engineering.

Emmons would like to restore good manners at council meetings. “We can disagree, but I want to be able to look each other in the eye and be polite. I want to be a calming influence.”

He said Lake Elmo has many key assets, including its rural character and a good location on Interstate 94. It can control how it grows, he said.

“We have been dealt a strong hand,” said Emmons. “We are not going to look like a generic suburb.”

CHRISTINE NELSON

Christine Nelson, 47, is an outspoken ally of Pearson and Bloyer. “Our goal is not just to form a new majority. It is to form a majority of civility,” she said.

Nelson has worked 15 years in fundraising for nonprofits; the council seat would be her first elected position.

“I am tired of the meetings going on for countless hours,” she said. “I am tired of the lack of professionalism and transparency. This is clearly not effective government.”

Last year, when many city employees were leaving, she wrote letters to council members. She said the only two who responded were Pearson and Bloyer.

Nelson would like to return the Lake Elmo library to the Washington County library system. And she wants to preserve the city’s agrarian roots, while allowing some growth.

“There are ways to do that thoughtfully,” Nelson said. “We have a long history of fighting growth. That has been futile and expensive.”

BEN ROTH

Ben Roth, 46, is a national sales vice president with Securian Financial Group.

He quit a four-year term on the city’s planning commission in 2009, figuring he had done his civic duty. But since the city’s reputation has suffered, he said, he felt compelled to run for office.

“City Council dysfunction is front and center, but the underlying issue is development,” Roth said.

He said he was shocked by a 2013 report by the credit-rating agency Moody that said 60 percent of the city’s available land would be developed in five to seven years. He said Pearson and Bloyer were members of a city council that approved rapid growth.

Roth doesn’t endorse one faction or the other, but he says it is time for “fresh faces on the council.”

Roth said he would help restore civility. “When you can’t shake hands after a meeting, it has gotten too personal,” he said.

Bob is a 40-year veteran (yes, he is grizzled) who edited one Pulitzer Prize winner and wrote two that were nominated. He has also worked in Des Moines, Colorado Springs and Palo Alto. He writes about the suburbs, the environment, housing, religion -- anything but politics. Secret pleasures: Kayaking on the Mississippi on the way to work, doughnuts brought in by someone else. Best office prank: Piling more papers onto Fred Melo’s already trash-covered desk.

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